Mar 5, 2020|
JD Cloud & AI Becomes One of the Big 4 Following Retail, Logistics and Digits
by Ella Kidron and Yuchuan Wang
JD.com announced that JD Cloud & AI would be the fourth core business to provide technology services, joining the ranks of major businesses, JD Retail, JD Logistics and JD Digits, on March 5th. The move also solidifies the importance of technology in the future growth of JD’s business.
JD Cloud & AI, consolidates JD’s strength in advanced technologies to provide a wholesale technology solution, internally for different segments of JD.com and externally for partners. Dr. Bowen Zhou, who also chairs the JD Technology Committee – a central decision-making center for technology related projects and talent management throughout the company, as well as an engine to increase JD’s influence in the broader technology community, is President of JD Cloud & AI. Zhou originally joined JD to lead the company’s AI division, and has since developed numerous solutions of JD.com, as well as commercial solutions for partners.
Dr. Bowen Zhou, President of JD Cloud & AI, Chair of JD Technology Committee
The elevated position of JD Cloud & AI also solidifies the establishment of JD’s overall technology strategy, which integrates several powerful technologies under one roof, and is referred to as ABCDE.
“Our research and development is broken down into ABCDE (AI, Big Data, Cloud, Devices, or IoT, and Exploration)” Zhou explains. “Looking more closely, if we are to imagine ABCDE as representing different parts of the human body, AI represents the brain, IoT represents the nerve endings, Cloud Computing represents the torso, muscles and blood vessels, and Big Data represents the oxygen that runs up and down the body. Finally, E is about maintaining a degree of curiosity, exploring new practices and pushing the edge of the aforementioned ABCD technologies.”
JD Cloud & AI logo
The logo for JD Cloud & AI is representative of its mission. The “JD red” represents trust, JD’s founding value, “blue” represents technology, emphasizing JD’s commitment to technology development and innovation, and the infinity symbol represents a connected world and the constant development of advanced technologies
Through JD’s 16 years of development, the company has acquired extensive technological capabilities and infrastructure from retail to logistics to digital technology. JD’s R&D team now has over 18,000 personnel, among which over 80% hold masters or above degrees. In 2019, total investment by listed and unlisted affiliates of JD exceeded RMB 17.9 billion (USD 2.6 billion). Technology represents not just a new growth area for JD, but is mapping its future development, and the impact it will have on society as a whole.
“The next decade will be defined by the intelligence economy. It starts with trust and is differentiated by perspective. We will develop trustworthy technology and open it up to external partners,” Zhou further adds.
In 2019, the scale of JD’s cloud, AI and IoT business increased over 500%. It now has one of the largest Docker clusters and GPU clusters in China. According to IDC China’s Public Cloud Service Market report in 2019, JD is China’s top 10 public cloud IaaS provider, with a year-on-year growth 512% in terms of market share, the fastest in the industry. JD is also the operator of China’s largest smart home IoT platform that can connect 150 million devices serving 25 million families. JD’s NeuHub open AI platform, which offers AI APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) covering natural language processing, speech recognition, computer vision, and machine learning, links the demand and supply of various industries and was named as the core carrier for the National Open Innovation Platform for Next Generation AI in Smart Supply Chain.
Sep 27, 2024|
Leveraging AI to Drive Innovation, Reduce Costs, and Create Jobs: Insights from JD.com’s Chief Economist
At the 2024 FORTUNE Global 500 Summit in Guangzhou on September 26th, Dr. Shen Jianguang, Chief Economist of JD.com, shared how the company utilizes AI to transform its operations across retail, logistics, and more, while driving significant workforce expansion. “By integrating advanced technologies throughout our business, JD.com has more than tripled its workforce in the past six years from 180,000 to 620,000, all while increasing salaries,” Dr. Shen explained during the panel discussion titled “‘Changes and Opportunities’—Chief Economists’ Perspectives.”
AI tools have enabled JD.com to boost efficiency and elevate the customer experience. For example, JD’s AI-driven digital human livestream hosts have helped over 5,000 brands increase off-peak hours’ sales conversion rates by 30%. Additionally, AI-powered customer service representatives offer more personalized support, and logistics couriers use AI to deliver packages faster and with greater sustainability.
JD.com’s customer service representatives
“The competition in China is so fierce, and that’s what drives innovation—you have to innovate to survive,” said Dr. Shen, underscoring the role of innovation in reducing costs and increasing productivity. This is especially crucial in China’s e-commerce landscape, where consumers are becoming more price-conscious. “Consumers are looking for the ‘extreme quality-to-price ratio,’ meaning they want high-quality products at lower prices,” he added. At the same time, Dr. Shen noted a growing trend in rural and lower-tier markets, where significant growth opportunities are emerging.
Dr. Shen also discussed China’s recent economic stimulus packages. “Policy initiatives are important. When people perceive a shift in policy, the market responds,” he said, referring to the government’s subsidies for home appliance trade-ins introduced earlier this year. This program has stimulated demand for affordable, high-quality products, as reflected in the increased sales of subsidized items.
Guangzhou, the host city for the summit, launched a new round of consumer goods trade-in subsidies on September 1st, positioning online platforms like JD.com as essential providers of seamless trade-in services. Over 800 home appliance brands have partnered with JD.com in Guangzhou, offering more than 8,500 products. Additionally, JD.com is working with its brand partners on a Customer-to-Manufacturer (C2M) model, leveraging consumer insights to drive innovation for more tailored products.
JD.com provides one-stop trade-in services for home appliances and home goods
The panel discussion featured Dr. Shen alongside Minggao Shen, Global Chief Economist at GF Securities, and Robin Xing, Chief China Economist at Morgan Stanley, with FORTUNE Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell moderating. The panelists agreed that while AI is still in its early stages, its potential is vast. With China’s stimulus policies and a functioning capital market, the private sector is well-positioned to unlock considerable industrial and social value.
JD.com ranked #47 on the 2024 Fortune Global 500, moving up five spots from the previous year. Guided by its mission to “Make Lives Better through Technology,” the company remains committed to cost management, operational efficiency, and enhancing user experiences, while continuing to invest in employee development and upskilling to foster both business growth and workforce advancement.
(vivian.yang@jd.com)
Sep 13, 2024|
JD.com Showcases Cutting-Edge Supply Chain Innovations at 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS)
JD.com unveiled its latest digital supply chain technology advancements at the 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), held in Beijing from September 12 to 16. As a global partner of CIFTIS for the fifth consecutive year, JD.com demonstrated its commitment to driving digital transformation across industries. Notably, JD Cloud’s digital human powered by its ChatRhino (or Yanxi in Chinese) large language model (LLM) and JD Health’s Dermatology Service Platform were recognized with the “China Service Practice Case” and “Innovation Demonstration Case” awards, respectively.
JD Cloud’s ChatRhino AI digital human, a pioneering innovation in the field, played a key role during JD.com’s 618 Shopping Festival, becoming the first large-scale commercialized digital human in the industry. Developed entirely in-house, ChatRhino has supported over 5,000 brands, increased off-peak hours’ conversion rates by over 30%, and logged more than 400,000 hours of live streaming with a reach of over 100 million viewers and more than five million user interactions, the digital human has driven over RMB 10 billion in gross merchandise value.
In April 2023, JD Health launched China’s first online skin hospital, featuring over 6,000 registered doctors, including more than 3,500 from top-tier hospitals. Using JD Health’s Jingyi Qianxun (京医千询) LLM, the platform integrates vast medical expertise to deliver smart diagnostic support. The Dermatology Service Platform streamlines the diagnostic process at every stage of patient care, improving treatment efficiency while maintaining the highest standards of medical care.
At CIFTIS 2024, JD.com also introduced several breakthrough retail technologies, including JD.Vision, an early native application for Apple Vision Pro; Jingyan （京言）, an AI assistant for e-commerce; and Jingdiandian （京点点）, an AIGC-powered content generation platform. JD Logistics presented a virtual logistics park leveraging digital twin technology to simulate operations such as storage, packaging, sorting, and highlighted carbon-neutral logistic park practices. JD Industrials launched the “TAIPU”(太璞) digitally intelligent supply chain solution, tailored to optimize demand, procurement, fulfillment, and operations for industrial products. Additionally, JD Finance presented its suite of digital financial products and services, including consumer finance, payments, and wealth management.
JD’s exhibition also highlighted its digital and physical supply chain integration advancements across various business sectors. Key initiatives included cross-border e-commerce operations through JD Worldwide, omnichannel retail by ochama (JD.com’s Europe-based brand), country-specific online flagship stores known as JD National Pavilions, and on-demand retail and instant delivery service under JD NOW. These innovations attracted significant attention and reinforced JD.com’s leadership in advancing the digital transformation of supply chains.
(vivian.yang@jd.com)
Lei Xu: Merchants Better Performed by Using JD’s Services
